The Attitudes of Top Performing Sales Managers
By Michael J Griffin
6 minute read
Over my 30 plus years of consulting on sales productivity and training sales teams, I have observed over and over that the top performing sales managers have positive attitudes that motivate sales teams to meet and exceed revenue or customer retention goals. Gone are the days where sales managers can just “sit in their chairs.” Today’s younger salespeople require a sales manager that is active in supporting their achievement of exceeding their sales KPI’s.
I do believe that the Chally Group research is still very relevant in developing and retaining sales managers that have these competencies to drive sales team to achieve:
Willingness to Train and Coach Sales People
Willingness to do Joint Sales Meetings
Directs and Manages Salespeople
Profit Conscious as a Manager
Proactive to Drive Sales Team Success
Ability to Make Presentations/Training
Focused on Quantitative Results
Good Analytical Abilities
If you review these sales manager competencies, you will find that 5 of them are attitude or motivational characteristics. The message is clear: hire and promote sales managers for their motivation and attitude to drive sales team performance, train them in the skill to do it.
Research by Rain Group reveals, top-performing sellers are 83% more likely to say their sales managers are effective in supporting their ability to achieve top performance. The message: sales managers that show solid support for salespeople to achieve their sales goals is crucial to retain and motivate top performing salespeople.
The adage “Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude” directly connects to achieving and exceeding sales revenue targets.
“Your Sales Manager’s Attitude Determines the Sales Team Altitude
to Reach or Exceed Sales Targets.”
In my experience and observation, sales managers who have the positive attitudes and motivations below lead sales teams to be loyal and exceed sales goals. Why not score yourself on each and ask your sales people to score you as well. I have put my score out of “10” at the end of each characteristic.
Have Passion and Drive for Sale Team Success: Successful sales managers are passionate about their work and driven to support their salespeople success. They inspire their salespeople with their enthusiasm, dedication, commitment and actions to support salespeople achieving sales goals and exceeding expectations. They understand when their salespeople succeed, they succeed as well. “9”
Able to Empower and Give Autonomy: They empower their team members to take ownership of their work, make decisions, and solve problems independently. This fosters a sense of responsibility, engagement, and self-leadership among the sales team members. They do not micro manage or have to be seen as the “ultimate sales rescuer” who creates an unhealthy co-dependency with his/her sales team. “8”
Enjoy and Practice Data-Driven Management: Successful sales managers rely on setting clear collaborative KPI’s that are leading and lagging indicators of sales success. This data and analytics to guides coaching and navigating their salespeople to make good decisions on account management, visioning the future, tracking progress, and identify areas for improvement. Data is used to have respectful collaborative coaching conversations that lead to salesperson commitments to excel. “10”
Focus on Salespeople Development: They prioritize and enjoy developing their sales team members, recognizing that their success is directly linked to the growth and capabilities of their organization. They are continual learners who then invest their learning in training, coaching, and mentorship to help their salespeople reach their full potential. Developing their salespeople is their passion and responsibility and they do not push it off to the HR department. “9”
Be Patience, and Empathize while You Coach. Of course having good coaching skills in effective sales managers is a must, but also having patience and empathy when coaching is booster. Many times we as sales coaches with experience do not take time to listen, empathise and ask questions to help the salesperson discover solutions or ways to navigate accounts. Ask more empathise more to get good buy-in, rather than expediently “just tell him/her what to do.” Help! “7”
Be Persistent, Practical Optimist: Be a leader that is resilient in the face of sales setbacks and challenges, maintaining a positive attitude and encouraging the team to persevere. “10”
Allow for Failure: Successful sales managers view failures as opportunities to learn and improve, promoting a growth mindset within the team. Remember selling is a job where we may fail more than succeed – not every account wants to buy. Teach your team by your example to “fail forward.” “9”
Demonstrate Integrity, Be Trustworthy: No one wants to work for a boss they cannot trust. Lead with integrity, promoting ethical behavior and ensuring that the sales team members adhere to ethical standards in all sales activities. Having a sales manager that is trustable is win for all and leads to less negative surprises and more collaborative coaching discussions. “10”
Show “I Believe in You.” Let your coaching actions and communication always signal to the salesperson that you truly believe in her/him to be successful. This is very powerful. Help each salesperson paint of vision of their future success one sales interaction at a time. “9”
How did you score? How will your salespeople score you? Use this blog to find out, then map a plan for your to boost your sales management attitude for your sales team success altitude to soar!
Michael J Griffin
CEO and Founder of ELAvate
Global Sales Coach and Consultant
Korn Ferry Associate Sales Trainer
michael.griffin@elavateglobal.com
+65-91194008 (WhatsApp)